The New York Giants signed first-round pick Abdul Carter to his rookie contract on May 22, but in order to do so, they had to free up some cap space by restructuring fellow edge rusher Brian Burns’ deal.
“To get far enough under the cap to complete the signing of Abdul Carter, the Giants restructured the contract of Brian Burns by converting $10M+ of his base salary into a signing bonus,” ESPN NFL insider Field Yates reported on X.
This cap-saving move was actually predicted by The Athletic’s NYG beat writer Dan Duggan on May 21, and as Duggan reiterated on Thursday afternoon, “more cap maneuvers will be needed before the season.”
He even detailed the Giants’ “most obvious” restructure candidate that he expects to occur sometime after Burns, and that’s superstar defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence.
“The Giants could create $8.7 million in cap savings with a max restructure of Lawrence’s contract,” Duggan noted within his article. “That would result in $8.7 million being pushed into the final two years of Lawrence’s contract, resulting in cap hits of $31.3 million in 2026 and $33.3 million in 2027.”
“That appears like an obvious move if the cap space is needed, since the 27-year-old Lawrence remains at the top of his game,” the reporter went on. “The only potential complication with restructuring Lawrence is that he could be seeking a raise, as the defensive tackle market has exploded since he signed a four-year, $90 million extension in the spring of 2023.”
Giants LT Andrew Thomas Profiles as Riskier Restructure Candidate After Brian Burns
There is one other major contract restructure option after Burns, per Duggan, and that’s left tackle Andrew Thomas. Having said that, the NYG beat writer was less confident about general manager Joe Schoen going down this path.
“On the surface, Thomas is an obvious restructure candidate since his contract runs through 2029,” Duggan explained. “A max restructure of Thomas’ contract would create $12.2 million in cap space this year, while pushing that amount into the final four years of the contract.”
“However, restructuring Thomas’ contract doesn’t figure to be a no-brainer for Schoen since he has been conservative about pushing money into the future for players with injury concerns,” he continued. “Thomas has missed 18 games over the past two seasons and is returning from a Lisfranc injury.”
“Although Thomas is only 26, Schoen may have trepidations about shifting money into the future for a player with his injury history,” Duggan concluded.
He even added that there’s a scenario in which the Giants move on from Thomas after the 2026 season, if he’s unable to stay healthy over the next two years.
Giants’ Cap Space Ranks Near the Bottom of the NFL
Even after the Burns relief, the Giants don’t have much breathing room in 2025, as Duggan alluded above.
Over the Cap currently estimates that Big Blue has just under $6 million in available cap space as of May 23, which ranks third-worst in the NFL. The only two franchises below them are the Atlanta Falcons and Buffalo Bills.
There are other ways in which Schoen can, and likely will, shed some cap before Week 1. But the Lawrence move offers the most savings with the least amount of future risk.
It’ll be interesting to see how Schoen and his staff attack this issue as the summer progresses.
